ters" ticket, with or without the help of the
machine, was elected by sweeping majorities everywhere; and Gantry,
roaming the corridors and lounging-rooms of the Railway Club and reading
the bulletins as they were posted, shook his head despairingly over each
fresh announcement.

Late in the evening, finding that the senator's party had left the
Inter-Mountain the day before to drive to Wartrace, the traffic manager
called up the Quaretaro Mesa country-house and poured the news of the
_debacle_ into Evan Blount's ear.

"We've gone to the everlasting bow-wows, and Mr. McVickar has
disappeared, and the end of the world has come," was the way he phrased
it for the listening ear; but the word which came back must have been
peculiarly heartening, since from that time on to an hour well past
midnight Gantry figured hilariously as the self-constituted host of any
and all who would be entertained.

At Wartrace Hall there was also rejoicing, albeit of a quieter sort.
Five people sat around the cheerful blaze in the library, and when
Crowell, whose telegraph instrument was in the adjoining den, had
brought the final report from the outlying wards of the capital, he was
told to close his key and go to bed.

After the young man had withdrawn, the Honorable David rose to stand
with his back to the fire.

"Well, Evan, boy, are all the tangles straightened out for you for
keeps, now?" he asked jovially.

"Just about all of them, dad," laughed the younger man. He had been
spending a very happy evening, due less to the triumphant story which
had been pouring in over the wires than to the fact that Patricia had
been occupying the other half of the small sofa which he had dragged out
to face the fire.

"Don't feel sore because you didn't get the governor you thought you
were going to get when you went around preaching the gospel?" said the
father, still chuckling.

"We've got a better man and a bigger one, I'm sure," was the quick
reply. Then he added: "But I think I am still doubtful about the
advisability of injecting the machine principle into politics."

The senator laughed silently.

"Call it 'the organization' instead of 'the machine,' son, and you've
named the power that moves the civilized world to-day. Man, the
individual, is just about as helpless as a new-born baby. If you want to
reform anything, from an unjust poor-law to the tariff, your first move
is to rustle up a following; after that, you've got to solidify